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THE FENLAND THIRTIES by Denis Moules Voted 'Pikelines Article of the Year 2000-2001' by PAC members Some time ago I had a long and interesting chat with Stephen Harper. Stephen had almost completed his excellent book 'Broadland Pike', a history of the largest recorded captures. Stephen asked me how many Fenland 3O's I knew of and after a bit of thought I came up with the figure of about 20. Not many compared to those of the Broadlands. I then began to compile a list of Fenland 30's and spoke to many of the captors. Some of the material I have used in my 'Fenland Pike' slideshows and many people providing me with photographs and graphical accounts of these magnificent captures. Many of these epic tales have been published before and the captors have become Fenland legends. David Malin's '33' that topped a huge catch of pike from the Delph by the Coventry Circus Group is now part of Fenland history, as is Bob Church's 31.08 from the 16-Foot also the first two of Barrie Rickards' five entries. These captures are all backed up by excellent photographs and were properly witnessed. These two factors are vital when disclosing big fish, particularly those over 30lb. If you have caught a big pike and tell a mate I'll bet the first question is: "Where's the photo then?" In fact, in the case of Stephen's book, in the absence of photographs and witnesses, the pike are recorded in a chapter titled: 'Mysterious Monsters'. I do not propose to separate such fish in the Fenland list, just printed 'warts and all', and leave it up to you the reader to draw your own conclusions. The list is, I suspect, far from complete I would think, but if any reader knows of any other 30's, or locations of photos that I have not listed, please get in touch. This is not a money-making exercise but purely a record for information to PAC Members with an interest in the Fens. In recent captures I have not named the water for obvious reasons, unless the captor has publicised the venue themselves. Many friends and I fish some of these waters and an influx of pike anglers would not be popular. Neville Fickling wrote in his last book PikeFishing with Neville Fickling, "During the late 80's and early 90's several different Fen Drains produced pike over 25lb up to fish of 30lb. Such a fish is really the fish of a lifetime and anyone who has had a '30' from a drain should be sitting on top of the World". Neville is dead right, I am still waiting for my own first Drain '30'! I am not the only one, Bill Chillingworth had banked 235 Fenland 20's when I last talked pike with him some 2 years ago. A Fenland '30' eludes him still. Likewise Alan Ward, Steve Rodwell, Colin Hall and John Clements. Four modern-day pikers who are really 'on the ball'. Their day I hope will come, although Steve has captured a stillwater '30' from Swangey Lakes in Norfolk. The Fenland 30's (the area between the tidal river Nene and the cut-off channel). 1 36.08 Vanderville's Lake. Colonel Atherton. 1957. (Cased pike in the Lamb & Flag pub at Welney). 2 36.00+ Old Bedford. Netted by Great Ouse River Board. 1957. (Domesday Book of Mammoth Pike. No photo). 3 33.00 Sixteen Foot Drain (believed). John Betts. 1957. (John McAngus, Fenland bailiff in '70's. No photo). 4 32.00 Wissey Pools. E Jermyn. 1962. (Fishing in East Anglia, John Wilson. Not known if photo taken). 5 32.00 Relief Channel. Unknown captor. Oct. 1968. (Anglers Mail and Richard Reynolds. No photo). 6 31.04 Relief Channel. Richard Reynolds. March 1969. A fine angler who is still catching big Fenland pike today, Richard Reynolds. 7 31.08 Sixteen Foot Drain. Bob Church. 1971. The unmistakable Bob Church with his 31.08. 8 31.08 Relef Channel. Barrie Rickards. 1971. (Photo in Success with Pike by B. Rickards). 9 33.00 The Delph. David Malin. 1973. (Angling Times, Denis Moules has photo). 10 30.00+ Sixteen Foot Drain. Ian Davis. 1975 (approx). (John McAngus. Not known if photo taken). 11 33.00 Sixteen Foot Drain. Bob Allison. 1975. (Angling Times. Not known if photo taken). 12 32.00 Great Ouse. Barrie Rickards. 1976. (Photo in Success with Pike by B. Rickards). 13 32.00 The Delph. Mick Tarry. 1976. (John McAngus/Angling Times. DM has seen photo, but has no copy). 14 30.08 Little Ouse. Steve Cheshire. 1978. (Denis Moules has photo). 15 31.02 Relief Channel. Dave Litton. 1978. (In Pike Fishing with N.J. Fickling. DM has seen photo, but has no copy). 16 31.00+ Land drain. Steve Richardson. 1980's. (Steve Cheshire. Not known if photo taken). 17 30.04 Fenland drain. Richard Daniels. 1975. (Anglers Mail. Denis Moules has photo). 18 31.10 Land drain. John Watson from March. 1992. John Watson with the largest pike from a land drain that I know of. 19 31.04 Fenland drain. Alec Hitchings. 1992. Alec Hitchings' 31.04 caught on a Fenland drain in 1992 and featured in the Newmarket Journal. Alec also captured a 35.04 in 1999 from the Fens. 20 34.04 Fenland drain. Steve Cheshire. 1993. (Denis Moules has photo). 21 32.04 Fen gravel pit. Roger Moules. 1995. (Denis Moules has photo). 22 30.08 Old Nene. John Watson. 1996. (JW says photos/slides sent to Anglers Mail were not returned). 23 30.00+ Cut-off Channel. Lee McKay. 1996. (Angling Times. Denis Moules has photo). 24 30.04 Fenland drain. Barrie Rickards. 1996. (Barrie Rickards. No photo taken). 25 30.12 Fenland drain. Dave Geary. Dec. 1997. (Anglers Mail. Denis Moules has photo). 26 30.02 Forty Foot Drain. Tony Day. Oct. 1998. (Captured in a pike match. Photo in Angling Times). 27 38.10 Pisces lake. (Believed electro-fished). Nov. 1998. (Denis Moules has photo. Moved to another water and weighed at 41.04 It seems that the pike later died and a huge set of jaws were later found by PAC member Colin Hall at the pike's new location). The jaws of the 'Pisces pike'. These are of similar size to the Endrick and Kenmure pike jaws. (see Fred Buller's book Pike circa: 1971). 28 35.04 Fenland drain. Alec Hitchings. Jan. 1999. (Newmarket Journal. Denis Moules has poor-quality photo. AH says he weighed the fish on 66lb scales that accurately weighed a 56lb bag of spuds!). 29 31.00 Sixteen Foot Drain. Unknown boy from Doddington. Nov. 1999. (Angling Times. Photo published). 30 32.04 Fenland drain. Phil Wakeford. Nov. 1999. (An account and photo's are to appear in Dave Horton's compilation book The Ultimate Pike). 31 30.00+ Old Nene. Unknown Ukrainian. Feb. 2000. (Report in the Cambridgeshire Times. Caught near March town bridge and allegedly killed and eaten!). 32 31.04 Fenland drain. Unknown male, Littleport area. Jan. 2000. (Apparently appeared in local Littleport paper). 33 31.00 Fenland drain. Captor wishes to remain anonymous. 2000. (Captor told Denis Moules of capture. Photographed and witnessed). 34 31.04 Fenland drain. Barrie Rickards. Jan. 2000. 35 31.08 Fenland drain. Barrie Rickards. Jan. 2000. (BR describes the capture of these two fish in both the Angling Star and Cambridgeshire Pride. Both were captured within the space of a few hours. Unfortunately, BR only had a disposable camera with just one frame left with him. The only picture available is of a pike in mud at the waters edge, having avoided the photo-call beside the landing net!). The list is kept up to date on the Ely/Fenland PAC region's website at www.elyfenlandpac.co.uk This article first appeared in Pikelines 90 (November 2000) - on this website 6/9/02 BACK TO ARTICLE INDEX

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